Board game incorporating drinking beverages and method of playing board game, and board and gamepieces therefor and method of use thereof

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a board game providing opportunities for drinking (e.g., social drinking) beverages (e.g., alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages) during playing of the game. The board game includes a plurality of side games. Of these side games, the board game provides for various miniature competitions between selected players of the plurality of players playing the game, when one of the players lands on a location of the board providing for a miniature competition. The miniature competition can be a drinking game known on college campuses. Each player has a game or playing piece which initially is in the form of an empty carton for bottles (e.g., an empty 6-pack carton), and winners of the miniature competitions win bottle-shaped structures (e.g., beverage bottle-shaped structures) to be placed in the winner&#39;s carton. The game is won by the player filling the carton gamepiece with bottle-shaped structures (e.g., filling a 6-pack carton with six beverage bottle-shaped structures).

This application claims priority under 35 USC §119(e) of priorprovisional Application No. 60/526,017, filed Dec. 2, 2003, the contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to a board game, and moreparticularly to a board game that can incorporate drinking (for example,social drinking), e.g., of beverages (favorite beverages, such asalcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages), especially incorporating variousdrinking games used in colleges.

Various board games have been developed and been popularized, whichrequire certain activities to take place when the gamepiece of a playerlands on a particular location of a board. For example, attention isdirected to U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,650 to Reed, et al., entitled “Method ofPlaying a Board Game of College Social Life”. The board game describedin this patent is directed to extracurricular aspects of highereducation and incorporates physical actions by the players or teamsduring the course of playing the board game. The game board described inthis patent includes a playing path located on the perimeter of theboard and spaces for stacks of various types of cards used during thecourse of play. A single die is used by the players or teams during thecourse of play in order to determine movement and position of theplaying pieces. As a player's playing piece lands on a specificlocation, a card is drawn and the player must then perform an actionconsistent with directions on the card. Various of the cards includedirections for drinking, e.g., alcoholic beverages.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,650 is directed generally to extracurricularactivities during the college experience, which include (but of courseare not limited to) drinking, and involve, generally, game playing by aplayer against all other players playing the game.

U.S. Design Pat. No. D477638 discloses a board game for drinking, butdoes not set forth the mechanics and procedures of the game.

It is desired to provide a board game having competition among all ofthe players as a whole, while, within the game, having individualcompetitions between specific ones of the players, in a board game whichinvolves drinking of, e.g., alcoholic beverages (but not limited todrinking wherein the beverage is an alcoholic beverage; the beverage canbe a non-alcoholic beverage).

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a game board, and a method of playing agame (that is, a method of playing a board game), which includes acompetition among all the players, as well as specific competitionsbetween selected ones of the players (that is, miniature competitions),e.g., less than all of the players, for example, between two of theplayers. The board game includes a plurality of side games which areplayed during the playing of the board game in general; these side gamesinclude the miniature competitions.

The game board includes locations which give rise to these miniaturecompetitions between selected players, and other locations giving riseto drinking sips of, or chugging, a beverage (for example, but not to belimiting, an alcoholic beverage, but which can also be a non-alcoholbeverage, for example, a favorite beverage). Thus, the side games areinitiated by one of the players landing on a location designating thatthe side game be played. Illustratively, and not to be limiting, theminiature competitions can be drinking games quite often played oncollege campuses, such as (but not limited to) “Quarter Challenge” and“B.S. Bluff”. Illustratively, the game board has locations which, whenlanded upon by a player, will require such player or another player todrink the beverage.

As an additional aspect of the present invention, the gamepieces(playing pieces) provide competition among all of the players. Each game(playing) piece can start out as, for example, a piece resembling anempty carton, such as an empty carton for holding a six-pack ofbeverages with structures being added to the gamepiece during playing ofthe game, for example, when winning a miniature competition. One overallobject of the game is to completely fill the player's carton (playingpiece) with structures, the first one completely filling the cartonbeing the winner.

Illustratively, and not to be limiting, the carton can be in the shapeof a 6-pack container for, e.g., a beverage such as beer, with each ofthe structures for filling the container being in the shape of a bottle(for example, a beverage bottle, such as a beer bottle). The winner ofthe game is the first one to add six bottle structures to the empty6-pack playing piece. Of course, the playing piece can hold less than ormore than six structures, e.g., 12 structures in the shape of bottles,for example.

Accordingly, the present board game, and method of playing the boardgame, provide entertainment generally with competition among all of theplayers, with side games, and with miniature competitions within thegeneral board game providing selected competition between specified onesof all of the players. Moreover, the present board game has anadditional feature of providing drinking, including social drinking, of,e.g., a favorite beverage, for example, an alcoholic beverage such asbeer, while playing the board game. The board game uses unique playingpieces and additional components (e.g., bottle structures) fordetermining the winner of the game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of the game board of the present invention, showingboth a perimeter path and a path diagonally across the board, so that aplayer can have a greater choice of direction of movement of the playingpiece as compared to just forward and reverse.

FIG. 2 shows five empty 6-pack gamepieces respectively for, e.g., fiveplayers playing the game. While these pieces are numbered 1-5, each ofthe gamepieces (corresponding to cartons for holding beverages such asbeer) can have a distinct design of a specific type or brand of beverage(for example, “Budweiser”, “Heineken”, etc.). While five gamepieces areshown, each player will have a respective gamepiece; and, for example,where more or less than five players are playing the game, there will bea respective number of gamepieces.

FIG. 3 shows a bottle-shaped structure to be inserted into the gamepieceof FIG. 2. Illustratively, where there are two miniature competitions ona game board, the bottles can be two sets respectively of differentcolors, with one set of the colored bottles being for a first miniaturecompetition, and the other set of bottles, of the second color, beingfor the second miniature competition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Throughout the present disclosure, where it is described that thestructure comprises or includes specified components, the structure canconsist essentially of, and consist of, the specified components; andwhere it is described that the method comprises or includes specifiedsteps, the method can consist essentially of, and consist of, suchspecified steps.

FIG. 1 shows a game board for one embodiment of the present invention.The game board has a continuous path around the periphery of the board,for movement of the gamepieces, and has at least one path diagonallyacross the board for movement of the gamepieces. Thus, at, e.g.,location space 6 adjacent “*START* A RULE”, on the board in FIG. 1, theplayer has a choice to follow the peripheral path or diagonal path. Theboard has specified locations whereby, when a player's gamepiece landsthereon, the player must follow the game rules with respect to thatlocation, as discussed in the following.

In the following is set forth objects and rules for one specificembodiment of the game according to the present invention, using thegame board of FIG. 1, gamepieces of FIG. 2 and structures of FIG. 3 forfilling the gamepieces of FIG. 2. The rules of this specific embodimentare not to be limiting, describing one embodiment according to thepresent invention.

According to this embodiment, the object of the game is to fill an empty6-pack gamepiece with bottles (for example, green and brown bottles)collected throughout game play. These bottles are awarded, inter alia,respectively to the winner of two miniature competitions played in thegame (Quarter Challenge, B.S. Bluff), each time the miniaturecompetition is played, these two miniature competitions being discussedin the following. This game can be played with players' favorite type ofbeverage, which can be an alcoholic beverage but can also be other typesof beverages. The game is not intended to be played only with alcoholicbeverages, and can be played using non-alcoholic beverages.

In getting started, the game desirably has at least three players, morepreferably four or more (e.g., five) players. A quarter and two cups(preferably, non-transparent cups) are also needed. One of thesenon-transparent cups will be placed on the center of the board in the“DRINK CUP” spot; and a comfortable amount of a favorite beverage (e.g.,beer) is poured in this first non-transparent cup (“DRINK CUP”). Theother non-transparent cup goes on the B.S. Bluff circular spot, near the“Drink Cup Right”, and is, e.g., inverted, with one of two dice placedunder this other non-transparent cup. The quarter is placed on the spoton the game board with the picture of the quarter (quarter holder 5 inFIG. 1). Bottles (e.g., plastic bottles) are placed on each of thebottle spaces on the game board. Green bottles, for example, are placedon the “Quarter Challenge” spaces 9, and brown bottles are placed on the“B.S. Bluff” spaces 11″. A deck of cards (regular playing cards) isplaced on the “CARDS” spot on the board.

Each player chooses an empty 6-pack and begins on the space marked*START* A RULE. Each player rolls one dice, and the highest roll goesfirst. After this person having the highest roll goes, the game ordermoves, for example, counter clockwise.

The game is played by rolling only one of the die. Whatever the numberrolled, is the amount of spaces that the player may move. When landingon a numbered spot, depending on the number rolled on the die, theplayer landing on the numbered spot will either drink or pass out anumber of “sips” (“sips” of the beverage). “Sips” are determined by thedifference between the die roll and the number on the board. If the dienumber is higher than the number on the board, the player passes those“sips” to another player. If the die number rolled is lower than thenumber on the board, the player must drink that amount of “sips”. Whenpassing out the number of “sips”, the player may split them between twoor more other players. If the die number is equal to the number on theboard, each player “sips” the number amount on the die/board in a“social” manner. The DRINK CUP is filled with more beverage at thistime.

Illustratively, if a die roll is a 5 and the player lands on a number 3,two “sips” are passed out. If the player's die roll is a 3 and theplayer lands on a number 5, the player must consume 2 “sips”. If the dieroll is a 5 and the player lands on a number 5, everyone says “SOCIAL”and everyone takes 5 “sips”.

In the following are set forth specific rules when a player lands onother spaces of the game board shown in FIG. 1. Note that the red cardspaces in FIG. 1 are represented by the reference character 1, and theblack card spaces in the board of FIG. 1 are represented by thereference character 3. Other reference characters set forth in FIG. 1are designated below. *START* A RULE After the initial start of thegame, if a player (side game) lands on the *START* A RULE space, thatperson is entitled to make a rule for the entire rest of the game.Everyone MUST adhere to the Rule set by the player. The following Rulesare only examples; any Rule may be made.

(Example (1) of a Rule: Thumb rule: When the player (who made this rule)secretly places his or her thumb on the table, the other players must dothe same. The last person to place his or her thumb on the table mustdrink until the Thumb master puts his thumb down; Example (2) of a Rule:Anytime someone says Drink, Drank, or Drunk, you must take a “Sip”;etc.) RED CARD/ When a player lands on this space, he/she BLACK CARDmust pick up a card. The number on this card is the amount of “Sips” youmust pass to another player or consume yourself. If you are on a REDCARD space, and you pick a card with “red” numbers, you pass out thisamount of “Sips”. If you choose a card with BLACK numbers, you mustconsume this amount of “Sips. Vice-Versa when landing on a BLACK CARDspace. (Note: All Face Cards are worth 10 “Sips”. You may split thenumber of “Sips” between multiple players) DRINK CUP LEFT When a playerlands on this space, the player to the left of the player must drink thebeverage in the center DRINK CUP, and then put more beverage in theDRINK CUP. DRINK CUP When a player lands on this space, the player mustdrink the beverage in the center DRINK CUP, and then put more beveragein the DRINK CUP. DRINK CUP RIGHT When a player lands on this space, theplayer to the right of the player must drink the beverage in the centerDRINK CUP, and then put more beverage in the center DRINK CUP. STEAL APIECE When a player lands on this space, the player (Reference may takea piece (bottle) from any other player. character 19) (Note: The playermay only take a piece from other players, not off the playing board)POUR IN CUP When a player lands on this space, the player (Referencemust pour beverage into the center DRINK character 13) CUP. MOVE TO ANYWhen a player lands on this space, this SPACE (Reference enables theplayer to go to any space on the character 21) board. 3MAN When a playerlands on this space, the player (Reference is declared 3MAN. Whenever athree is rolled, character 17) the 3MAN must drink 1 “Sip”. To get outof (side game) being 3MAN, the player must roll a 3 or another playermust land on the 3MAN spot, making the other player the new 3MAN. CHOOSETHE When a player lands on this space, the player AMOUNT (Referencechooses another player to drink however many character 15) “Sips” theplayer wants the other player to drink. GO TO DRUNK When a player landson this space, the player's TANK gamepiece is moved across the board tothe DRUNK TANK space located below the WATERFALL space. When enteringthe DRUNK TANK, the player to the right of the player in the “drunktank” begins a WATERFALL. (See “waterfall” for instructions). The playermust stay in the DRUNK TANK until the player rolls a 1 on the die. Theplayer has 3 chances to roll a 1 on the die. If a 1 is not rolled inthese 3 chances, it is the turn of the next player in the rotation. Whena 1 is rolled by the player in the DRUNK TANK, the player moves to thelarge W space on the board. At this time the player getting out of theDRUNK TANK begins the WATERFALL. WATERFALL Everyone playing the gamemust partake in a WATERFALL. To begin a WATERFALL, everyone beginsdrinking at the same time. When the person who started the WATERFALLstops drinking, the 2nd in line may stop, then the third may stopdrinking, then the fourth player may stop, then the next, and so on.(Note: the WATERFALL is only played when entering and leaving the DRUNKTANK, not during regular game play. All other use of this space is bythe number on that space. A player may drink for however long as theyfeel necessary during the WATERFALL)

There are two ways to win bottles for filling the 6-pack container.These are set forth in the following: QUARTER When a player lands onQUARTER CHALLENGE CHALLENGE, that player chooses another (Referenceplayer to play a game of quarters. Quarters is a character 9) game wheretwo people rotate attempts in bouncing a quarter into the center DRINKCUP. Whichever player gets the quarter in the drink cup first getsawarded the Bottle gamepiece. The player who lost must drink the entireDRINK CUP. (Note: If a player lands on a QUARTER CHALLENGE space withouta bottle gamepiece, that player may only challenge a contestant with aQUARTER CHALLENGE bottle. If no one else has a QUARTER CHALLENGE bottleexcept the player on the space, the player must still choose anotherplayer, and then defend the bottle gamepiece). B.S. BLUFF B.S. BLUFF isa dice game in which both of (Reference the dice are used, along withthe second non- character 11) transparent cup. The player that lands ona B.S. BLUFF space challenges another contestant. B.S. BLUFF is playedbetween these two players. The object is to get the highest combinationnumber on the dice. (Note: You may BLUFF to get a higher number). Theplayer 1 who landed on the B.S. BLUFF space places both dice under thecup (which is inverted), and goes first by shaking the cup to mix up thedice. Without showing anyone else, the player 1 slightly tilts the cupto see the number combination on the set of die. (Example: A roll of anumber 2 on one of the die, and a 3 on the other die, would be a 32combination) The player 1 then announces this number (32) to theopponent (player 2). The opponent (player 2) would then shake the cupand mix up the dice. The opponent (player 2) must shake the dice, andget a higher number. (Example: A roll of a number 4 on one of the die,and a 5 on the other die would be a 54 combination) The opponent (player2) then announces this number 54 to the player 1. Once again, the player1 will shake the cup and mix up the dice, trying to get a higher numberthan the opponent (player 2). (If a player 1 shakes a lower number (21)than the opponent's (player 2's) number (54), then the player must BLUFFby announcing a higher number (63, for example). This goes back andforth between the two players. (At any time one of the players (1 or 2)believes the other IS bluffing, that player will lift the cup to see thecombination of the two dice. If the other player was telling the truth,the bottle gamepiece is awarded to that player and the challenger musttake 1 “Sip”. If the other player is bluffing, and the number is lower,the player (1 or 2) who called the bluff is awarded the bottle gamepiece& the loser must take 1 “Sip”.) If a double combination is rolled, suchas a 1 and another 1, that combination (1, 1) is higher than a (65)combination. Double two's (2, 2) are higher than double one's (1, 1),double three's (3, 3) are higher than double two's (2, 2), double four's(4, 4) are higher than double three's (3, 3), double five's (5, 5) arehigher than double four's (4, 4), and double six's (6, 6) are higherthan double five's (5, 5). (Note: Double combinations are always higherthan regular combinations such as 31, 65, 21, 54, etc . . . ) Theultimate BLUFF is a four and a one (4, 1) combination. If thiscombination is shaken, the player 1 who shook this combination (4, 1)places one of the two dice on the top of the inverted cup and hides theother die under the cup allowing the opponent (player 2) to see only oneof the numbers on the die. If the opponent (player 2) believes theplayer 1 has the other corresponding number hidden under the cup, theopponent (player 2) will roll the die on the top of the cup. The numberthat is rolled is the amount of “Sips” this player must drink. The gamethen resets, and is started over between the same two players. (Ifcalled on a bluff with this combination (4, 1) and the player 1 is NOTbluffing with a (4, 1) combination, the opponent (player 2) must rollboth dice. The amount on the dice is the amount of “Sips” the opponent(player 2) must drink. (Example: a roll of a 4 and 3 would add up to 7“Sips”. At this time the B.S. BLUFF bottle gamepiece is awarded to theplayer 1. (If called on a BLUFF with this combination (4, 1) and theplayer 1 IS bluffing the player 1 must roll both dice. The amount on thedice is the amount of “Sips” the player 1 must drink. At this time theB.S. BLUFF bottle gamepiece is awarded to the opponent (player 2).(Note: You may BLUFF at any point! (higher combination, Doubles, or evena (4, 1) combination. If a player lands on B.S. BLUFF space without abottle, that player may only challenge a contestant with a B.S. BLUFFbottle. If no one else has a B.S. BLUFF bottle except the player on thespace, the player must still choose another player, and then, defend thebottle gamepiece.) If a player lands on a B.S. BLUFF or QUARTERCHALLENGE space without a bottle gamepiece, the player can only playsomeone with a similar (color) bottle gamepiece. If no one has a similar(color) bottle, the player that landed on the space chooses theiropponent.

Many different embodiments of the present invention may be constructedwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It shouldbe understood that the present invention is not limited to the specificembodiment described in this specification. To the contrary, the presentinvention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalentarrangements included within the spirit and scope of the claims.

1. Gamepiece for a board game, comprising a member adapted to holdbottle-shaped structures collected during playing of the board game. 2.Gamepiece according to claim 1, wherein the member is a member having ashape of a 6-pack holder of beverages, and said bottle-shaped structuresare in the form of bottles for holding beverages.
 3. Gamepiece accordingto claim 2, wherein the gamepiece has a 6-pack carton design of arespective type of beverage.
 4. A plurality of gamepieces according toclaim 3, wherein each gamepiece has a carton design of a different brandof beverage.
 5. Method of playing a game using a gamepiece according toclaim 1, wherein a player of the game uses the gamepiece travelingaround a board of the board game; at predetermined locations of theboard the player plays a miniature competition; and where the playerwins the miniature competition the player collects a bottle-shapedstructure to place in said gamepiece.
 6. Method according to claim 5,wherein the game is played until a player collects bottle-shapedstructures so as to fill up the member.
 7. A board for a board game,having a continuous path around the board and at least one location onthe board where miniature competitions between a player landing on saidat least one location and another player are initiated.
 8. The boardaccording to claim 7, wherein the continuous path around the boardincludes diverging paths where a player can choose to proceed in one oftwo directions.
 9. The board according to claim 8, wherein thecontinuous path includes a path around the periphery of the board and apath, continuous with the peripheral path, diagonally across the board.10. A board game comprising the board according to claim 7 and aplurality of gamepieces, one for each player, each gamepiece comprisinga member adapted to hold bottle-shaped structures collected duringplaying of the board game.
 11. The board game according to claim 10,wherein the member is a member having a shape of a 6-pack holder ofbeverages, and said bottle-shaped structures are in the form of beveragebottles.
 12. The board game according to claim 10, wherein eachgamepiece has a carton design of different brand of beverage.
 13. Methodof playing a board game by a plurality of players using the boardaccording to claim 7, comprising the steps of: (a) each player chooses adifferent gamepiece, each gamepiece being adapted to hold a same numberof bottle-shaped structures therein but containing less than said samenumber of bottle-shaped structures at the beginning of the game; (b)each player, starting at a same starting point, in turn determininglanding positions along said path by chance means; (c) when a player, ofthe plurality of players, lands on a location along said path whichdirects that a miniature competition take place, said player plays saidminiature competition with another of said plurality of players, and awinner of said miniature competition wins a bottle-shaped structure forthe gamepiece of said winner; and (d) when a player fills the player'sgamepiece with bottle-shaped structures, so as to have a filledgamepiece, the player with the filled gamepiece wins the board game. 14.The method of playing the board game according to claim 13, whereinsecond locations along said path, other than locations which directsthat said miniature competitions take place, are locations which directplayers landing thereon to take drinks of beverages or which permit theplayer landing thereon to require other players to take drinks ofbeverages.
 15. The method of playing the board game according to claim14, wherein said beverages are favorite beverages.
 16. The method ofplaying a board game according to claim 13, wherein the continuous patharound the board includes diverging paths where a player can choose toproceed in one of two directions.